I had read all the available Harry Hole books except for The Redeemer when I started reading The Snowman and while it can stand on it's own, I wish I had read The Redeemer first for some of the back story since I found some aspects confusing. That aside, I really liked this novel. It's fairly graphic compared to some of his earlier works and as usual, there are plenty of twists and turns to keep things interesting. Of course, like his other novels, there are also some areas that you need to take with a grain of salt, like the creation of the snowmen or how a significantly wounded person could leave no traces of blood. So, if you can ignore some of the slight plot holes, it's definitely a good read.